Saw blades come in a variety of shapes and forms. For example, saw blades can be of the circular type that have teeth that extend around the periphery of the circular saw blade. Saw blades can also be of the reciprocating type that are linear and have teeth along one peripheral edge of the linear blade. The teeth on the saw blades are sharp and can injure a person handling the blades if care is not exercised. Additionally, the sharp teeth on the saw blades can damage other objects or goods that inadvertently come in contact with the teeth. Furthermore, the teeth may have special tips, such as carbide tips, that can be damaged if the blade is mishandled or dropped. Other saw blades may not include teeth, but instead have a finely-sharpened cutting edge.
There are many occasions where a saw blade needs to be disengaged from the remainder of a cutting machine. For example, in butchering applications, a meat cutting blade must frequently be removed from the cutter to clean both the blade and the remaining pieces of the machinery. Beyond cleaning applications, there are times when a blade must be removed from a saw to be sharpened, or replaced with a different type and/or size of saw blade.
In each of these cases, the handling of the saw blade is problematic and requires an individual to wear protective gloves to prevent any accidental contact with a sharp edge (with or without teeth). One prior art approach to solving the problem of handling saw blades is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,057, issued to G. B. Bannon et al. on Oct. 10, 1995. In this case, a protective saw blade cover is formed of a section of flexible plastic tubing that has a single cut through the tubing wall along the length thereof. The tubing is wrapped around the periphery of the saw blade and provides a protective cover for the outer periphery/teeth of the saw blade. Because the tubing has a circuit cross section—while the saw blade itself is relatively flat—the tubing cannot provide a close fit to the blade, and may become accidentally disengaged. Depending on the composition of the plastic material, this approach may also be somewhat cumbersome in terms of fitting around oddly-dimensioned blade peripheries. The flexible plastic material, moreover, may deteriorate over time, due to environmental or aging factors.
Thus, a need remains in the art for a protect cover for saw blades that is able to accommodate various blade designs, fully encases the saw tips and is relatively simple to use.